


The Kick Inside

by Ladderofyears



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Baby Books, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Caring Harry, Dialogue Heavy, Gentle Banter, M/M, Mpreg, Optimistic Harry Potter, Pregnant Draco Malfoy, Quickening, So Married, Teeth rottingly sweet, baby bump, pregnancy worries, shockingly fluffy, twin pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22924390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladderofyears/pseuds/Ladderofyears
Summary: Draco feels slightly worried. He is already twenty weeks pregnant and he hasn't felt his babies quickening yet. Harry comforts his husband and together they explore a few different methods of convincing their twins to give them a little wriggle.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 10
Kudos: 286





	The Kick Inside

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aylaar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aylaar/gifts).



> Title is pinched from the brilliant Kate Bush album.

“Come _on_ babies,” Draco admonished cheerfully, shuffling his body into a phone position on the settee. He rolled up his tee shirt expose the swell of his bump to the cooler air and spread his hands wide over the sides of his swollen belly. Already twenty weeks pregnant, Draco’s bump was getting respectable; jutting out skywards in a broad, elegant curve. “Time to wake up now. You’re both being frightfully shy today… Let’s look a bit lively, ladies. Neither of you are going to make Seeker for the Holyhead Harpies at this rate. You’d be lucky to make the sodding _Cannons_ -”

“Draco,” Harry’s voice interrupted from the doorway, “firstly, if either of our girls wanted to fly for the Cannons, then they’d be have to be spectacularly good at Quidditch. They’re currently six points above your precious Apples. Secondly, what precisely are you doing?”

Draco glanced up at his husband from where he lay, frowning a little at the disruption to his plans. 

“I was trying to encourage the babies to give me a little wriggle… Remember that book Pansy lent me? _What To Expect When A Wix Is Expecting?_ Well, I was reading it in bed after you went left for your run this morning. It said that a wizard ought to feel their baby quicken between sixteen and twenty-six weeks.” Draco shook his head, his eyes leaving Harry’s and returning to stare at his belly. He ran his palm softly over the apex of his bump, amazed anew at how much bigger he’d gotten in only the last month. “Well, I’ll admit reading that fact got me a little worried, Potter. We’re already at twenty weeks and I still haven’t very felt much.”

Admitting any sort of worry was, of course, always a sure-fire method getting Harry’s full attention. Harry’s inner-Saviour roared into immediate life and he was crouched beside the Draco in a matter of moments. 

“What’s that word, love? _Quicken?_ I haven’t heard that said at the Mediwizard appointments or when I've spoken to Hermione-” 

Harry reached over, knitting his fingers through Draco’s own. He placed them atop their growing twins, his touch full of love and concern

“It’s a bit of an old-fashioned word,” Draco admitted sheepishly. He squeezed Harry’s hand lightly. “One I heard it a lot growing up. Bit of a Sacred Twenty-Eight thing, I think… Mother and her friends were obsessive about babies and pregnancy. Well, you can imagine, Harry. A new heir in a Pureblood family was quite the cause for celebration… Anyway, the quickening just means a babe's very first movements. Mother used to say an early quickening was a portent of a wizard’s strong future magic but I know that’s all nonsense-”

“But that doesn’t mean you haven't been thinking about it,” Harry said gently. “That’s only natural.” He raised an eyebrow in confusion behind his thin metal frames. “But yesterday, when we were in the bath? You said you could feeling them diving about when I charmed the water temperature back up?”

“Well, technically,” Draco replied, feeling his face flush as the thought of their decadent afternoon spent lazing about in their magically-extended bathtub. With his expanding tummy and achy muscles there wasn’t anywhere he’d rather be than in the water, especially if Harry decided to join him. “I mean, I definitely felt _something_ swooping around in my bump… But _What To Expect_ says that isn’t a true quickening… More likely, the fidgeting sensation was our magic at work, moving my internal organs and strengthening my uterus… A quickening is like a little flicker, I think. A _fluttering_. There’s not been anything like that, Potter. And our girls haven’t kicked either.”

“Are we really sure that this baby book is really the best thing for you to be reading?” Harry asked, picking up _What To Expect_ from the floor where Draco had left it. “You know how obsessed you get sometimes about everything needing to be perfect... We’ve known from the very beginning that it’s impossible to control every aspect of our pregnancy.” 

Harry flicked idly to the page that Draco had marked with a Hungarian Horntail bookmark. He read for a full minute, before making a scoffing noise. “And it’s full of outdated advice! Merlin, Draco!” Harry shook his head, appalled. “It suggests here that a wizard can ‘ _induce their quickening by going out on his broom in the glacial north wind!_ ’ Don’t you bloody dare, Draco! The Mediwizard expressly forbade-”

“I’m pregnant!” Draco cut in, staring at Harry in disbelief that his husband might even suggest he was capable of such a foolish plan. “Not a blithering bloody idiot! I’m not about to go flying around the rooftops, Potter. I’m not intending to even move if I don’t have have to! I’m incredibly comfortable, exactly where I am… What else does the book say? Because my talking to them didn’t appear to be working-”

Harry let out a breath, squinting a little as he read the scratchily printed text. 

“Ice,” Harry smirked, his green eyes full of amusement. “Looks like all my Galleons have come at once today, love… I get to torment you with some ice cubes, which is quite my secret fantasy come true.”

“Ice?” Draco sputtered, horror-stricken by his husband’s suggestion. “You’re talking about literal _frozen water?_ The mere suggestion makes me feel all shivery Potter! Our poor daughters! They’re entirely warm and cosy without your oafish hands torturing them-”

“It wouldn’t exactly be torture,” Harry disagreed. He got out his wand and focussed it on Draco’s glass. “ _Glacius_ ,” incanted Harry and Draco watched as a blast of blue magic turned his drink entirely solid. “Says here in the book that the shock of the cold should get them shifting around. While they’re warm and cuddly there’s no motivation for them to move.” Harry explained, sliding the chunk of ice from the glass. “Well. It’s mostly _you_ that gets the shock of the cold, love… The babies are just reacting to your surprise-”

All of a sudden, Harry brought his hands down onto Draco’s belly. The shock of the icy cold felt perfectly overwhelming and he yelped, laughing hard.

“Salazar!” Draco squealed.“Aargh! So bloody cold!” Draco reared up and tried his hardest to wriggle out from beneath Harry’s bedevilment but his husband wasn’t having any of his resistance. Draco gasped while Harry tormented him with long swipes of the ice cube. Harry was relentless, and he ran the ice all over the curve of Draco’s bump, and across his navel, making him tremble and shake. “You absolute… absolute bloody _fiend_ , Potter!” Draco managed after about half a minute, panting loudly. “Enough now, I beg you! Please! I’m nothing but a gigantic goose-bump!”

“Has it worked though?” Harry asked, intrigued. He _Evanesco’d_ the icy and dried Draco’s belly with a warming spell. “Can you feel the girls moving at all? Are they wriggling?”

Draco didn’t know. There was definitely some sort of sliding movements occurring, but he couldn’t be rightly sure if it was actually the twins. It might very well have been his muscles hurting because he’d laughed so hard. 

“Maybe,” he admitted. “There’s something happening but the feeling isn’t very strong-”

Harry gazed down at Draco’s belly with a look of bemusement. “Typical little Malfoys,” he said. “Stubborn as a pair of bloody Hippogriffs and obviously prone to keeping us guessing… Let me see if I can feel anything.” Harry lay the side of his head against Draco’s bump, with his ear pressed against the soft taut skin of Draco’s navel. His hair was tickly and Draco could smell the minty scent of his shampoo. Harry smelt lovely; sweet and familiar. 

“Well. Your belly is certainly making a lot of noise,” Harry commented, raising his head to look at Draco. “But I can’t tell if that’s because the babies are squirming or whether you’re just hungry… Did you have much for breakfast, love?”

Draco thought back to earlier. He’d felt a little nauseous at breakfast; the bowl of Wheetabix that Harry had left under a stasis spell had looked distinctly unappealing. “Just a banana,” he confessed guiltily. “I didn’t have much of an appetite.”

Harry shook his head. “Bloody hell, Draco. You know you’re supposed to be eating more fibre,” he cautioned. “Sweet Merlin. You’ll be constipated for the next four months otherwise... Okay. _What To Expect_ says that the babies might start moving if you ate something sweet. If you’re empty-bellied and lacking in energy then they’ll both feel exactly the same. It stands to reason.” 

Harry jumped to his feet. He bounded into the kitchen and returned thirty sceonds later, a plate clutched in his hand. “Enchanted Butterscotch Pudding,” Harry explained, thrusting the dessert directly under Draco’s nose. “The Elves in that new bakery off Diagon owled me a batch of their brand new recipe only yesterday. I was saving it to share with you after dinner but I think that now seems like a far better occasion-”

“You’re actually getting _sent_ puddings now?” Draco scoffed, gingerly filling a fork with the rich, gooey dessert. “Tied to the legs of owls? Honestly Potter, your fans have no shame whatsoever.” 

Draco spooned the butterscotch into his mouth, not really sure how much was going to enjoy it. He didn’t share his husband’s sweet tooth or his naked enthusiasm for all things calorific or dripping in chocolate. This Enchanted Butterscotch Pudding wasn’t quite as terrible as Draco might have imagined though. It had quite a tart aftertaste and the butterscotch was pleasantly crumbly. 

Draco finished off the slice to Harry’s unmistakable satisfaction. “Now we have to wait a few minutes,” Harry explained, paraphrasing _What To Expect_ , “and wait for the food to filter down to our babes. Then they should, hopefully, respond.”

Harry nipped off to make himself a cup of coffee, and flatly refused Draco’s entreaties that he be allowed a cup too. “Far too much caffeine,” Harry answered smugly. “You can have water or a cup of Muggle decaf tea. You’ve already had your one daily Butterbeer.”

For the next few minutes, Draco waited impatiently for their babies to move. 

However it was all to no avail. The Potter-Malfoy babies were in a distinctly uncooperative mood and all the Enchanted Butterscotch in the world wasn’t tempting them to wriggle. Draco threw his head back on the cushions in sheer frustration, suddenly feeling quite gloomy. “It’s patently obvious,” he grumbled as Harry walked back into the living room. “The girls have already concluded that they don’t like me-”

“You do talk some nonsense sometimes,” Harry replied. He put down his coffee onto the table and slid down to his knees beside Draco. “The babies _love_ you. Inside your womb is the only world that they’ve ever known. I reckon that half the reason they’re not wanting to move is that you’ve got it far too nice in there… Let me have a go at talking to them.” Harry smirked, lightly rubbing Draco’s belly. “I’ve been told that I’ve got a way with words.”

Draco rolled his eyes at that. “Not by me! Circe’s tits. Your bloody ego.” He shifted to give Harry more room to work, feeling the pleasant warm puffs of his husband’s breath again his tummy. “Go on, Potter… Let’s see if you can do any better.”

“C’mon babies,” Harry began, his voice optimistic. “Your daddy has been working really hard, growing you, and keeping you safe… Now you have to show your appreciation by giving him a little kick-” Harry paused. “Anything?”

“Nothing yet,” Draco replied, “but please don’t stop.”

“And I know that daddy can sometimes be a little bit of a grouch, but don’t let that put you off,” Harry continued. “We can’t wait to meet the pair of you.” Harry paused once more and pressed a kiss into the middle of Draco’s belly. 

And by some absolute miracle or, perhaps more likely, Harry’s preposterously powerful magic, Draco felt an unmistakable kick. 

Draco gasped in surprise, his eyes welling up with delighted, captivated tears. 

_This_ was the quickening that the baby book had described; the very first deliberate movement that one of their two tiny babies had decided to make. A minute hand or foot had hit out hard enough so that Draco could feel it bound off the side of his womb. Harry must have felt him tense up, for he immediately turned his wide, impatient green eyes up to meet Draco’s own. 

“You felt something,” Harry said; awed and entranced. “I didn’t though,” He eagerly cupped Draco’s tummy, trying to feel another movement for himself. “I’ll try talking to them again.”

“It was only the once though,” Draco said, massaging the top of his bump and willing his baby to wriggle again. “Merlin, Harry! Talk to them again! That was the difference love. Your voice! It got them moving-”

Harry leant in closely. 

“Okay, girls,” Harry began in a loud, clear voice, “that was really very clever. Thank you for showing us that you’re in there, but now you need to do it again, please… Give us both another little kick, just to show that it wasn’t a coincidence-”

“They’ve kicked again,” Draco interrupted, seizing Harry’s hand, laughing with joy. “Un- _bloody_ -mistakeable! There were three little kicks just then, all in a row... There was a little flutter, just like the book said, and then they kicked!” He pressed Harry’s hand hard onto the middle of his belly. “You great glittering _git_ ,” Draco said, laughing with joy and wiping tears from his cheeks, “they’re as obsessed with you as I am. They’re kicking because they can hear your voice!”

Harry flushed and Draco saw his eyes open wide behind those ridiculous frames that he still insisted on wearing. He gave Draco a broad, daft grin. “Really?” he asked.

“Really,” Draco agreed with a nod. “Now keep talking!”

Harry did as he was bidden. “You’re both the cleverest little witches,” he explained, rubbing and kissing Draco’s bump, “using those little arms and legs to stretch and kick? It’s making both of your daddies really happy… If you doing it because I’m talking then that’s very exciting too. I can’t feel either of you yet… You’re only the size of bananas, so you’re both pretty small still… But I’ll be able to feel you kicking soon and I can’t wait.”

Harry’s words dimmed Draco’s elation a little bit. 

He’d read earlier in _What To Expect When A Wix Is Expecting_ that it would take several more weeks for the other father to feel their babies kicking but that thought had flown out of his head in all the excitement.

It didn’t seem all that fair really. The twins were as much Harry’s babies as they were his own. Draco was just incubating them for a few months until they were big enough to make their big arrival in the world. 

“You’ll be able to feel them soon though,” Draco said, sitting up and wrapping both of his arms around Harry shoulders. His husband took the hint and raised his head, finding Draco’s lips for a soft, loving kiss. “And by then you’ll have to put up with my constant wining and demands, Potter.” Draco curled a piece of Harry’s hair around his finger, before he continued. “You think I’m bad now? I’ll be an utter _nightmare_ when I’ve got both your Potter spawn ill-treating my precious insides. I’m sure they’ll both have inherited your tendency to aggravate the living _magic_ out of me-” 

Harry chuckled at that comment. “I knew you were high-maintenance when I married you,” Harry said, pressing another kiss onto Draco’s forehead. “It didn’t put me off then and it doesn’t now.”

“I know what you’re like,” Draco murmured affectionately. “A total bloody _curse_. You’ll enjoy every minute of my misery-”

“Oh yes,” Harry agreed, narrowing his eyes amusedly. “Every single minute. Especially if it means I get to feel the babies wriggling as a result. Maybe I’ll even encourage them… After all, they do seem to prefer my voice…” 

Draco snorted, knowing when he was beaten. Beside him, Harry rose from his crouched position, before leaning over and brushing a kiss against his hair. “You have a nap,” Harry announced, turning around to walk back towards the kitchen. “Reckon here’s been quite enough excitement around here for one day… I’ll wake you up when dinner’s ready.” 

Draco lay back down on the settee and closed his eyes. 

Deep inside of his body their daughters had fallen asleep, safe and loved under his beating heart, and Draco knew that before many more moments had passed that he was destined to join them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading xxxxx


End file.
